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Abstract

This study focuses on a Saminist (Sedulur Sikep) community in Java – Indonesia, particularly related to the contemporary anti-cement movement. With their Javanese puritanical traits and non-violent resistance, the Sedulur Sikep community managed to live their lives as a culturally separate community with distinct views on resource management, spirituality, and authority. Currrently, this community’s members are now standing at a crossroad in defending their capital resources and preserving their identities, culture, beliefs, livelihoods, and most importantly, future generations by protecting their land and water resources through anti-cement activism. Research findings show that the strong idealism and spiritual behaviors of Sedulur Sikep play a crucial role in defining their activism within the anti-cement movement. This thesis studies the perspective and activism of Sedulur Sikep through their conciousness, both as a peasant and puritan Javanese community, toward the respective Kendeng Mountains. By perceiving the physical and non-physical elements of the mountains and its surroundings, Sedulur Sikep position themselves to challenge the powerful actors’ interests in the cement agenda. On the other hand, Sedulur Sikep also manages to re-claim their identity as a passive and non-violent Javanese peasant movement, while they also adapt with the anti-cement movement’s needs. Therefore, the active role of Sedulur Sikep’s identities and their passive and non-violent resistance traits are central within this study. This study then analyses Sedulur Sikep’s movement strategies that have shifted into collective and openly declared forms of resistance, as ramification of power and interest relations among involved actors within the cement agenda.